About

The first spark flashed back in 2015, when I (Alejandra) needed to communicate with coffee farmers in Uganda about their needs and challenges in the face of climate change. A common spoken or written language was missing but mutual understanding was crucial to plan and implement effective climate change adaptation measures. In this situation, illustrations and flipcharts became the best partners and opened us new doors to approach those challenges and work together.

Over the following years, after several conferences, presentations, and meetings, I continued reassuring that visuals play a vital role in effective and efficient communication. Visuals help communicating of almost everything, from scientific results, project ideas, working workflows, concepts, hypotheses and more. Nevertheless, I also realized that crafted visual communication tailored to the message and the audience was frequently missing, resulting in a gap between the communicator and the publicum, in particular between scientists from different disciplines and between scientists and society. When we are not able to overcome this gap and convey our message, findings, ideas, questions to our audience, we are losing a lot of opportunities to have meaningful discussions, to approach problems from different perspectives, to ask relevant questions, … and the list is long.

Can the use of better visuals in our communication help to close this gap? This question turned the spark into a flame, “Visuals in Science”. By this time, I had the opportunity to meet Beatriz, a very talented, curious and sharp eye for detail person. Our common passion for science and art bound us since the beginning and when I asked her to join me in the “Visuals in Science” journey, she jumped immediately. At this point we were “Visuals in Science AB”.

I (Beatriz) have always been passionate about science and art, and also very active in both fields. However, for me, science and art were somehow opposite, contradictory, and to some extent irreconcilable. And even though my profession as Geographer, involved a lot of visuals, it was not until my MSc studies in Crop protection that I realized the possibility of using my artistic talent to the benefit of my scientific practice. Detail observation and hand drawing became part of the scientific process, art and science became complementary for me.

Alejandra’s ideas about using better visuals to bridge communication gaps between and among scientists and between scientists and the general public, resonate straightway with mine. I had also realized this gap and the need to establish bridges. Thus, Alejandra and I started shaping “Visuals in Science”. As we were embracing and building our vision of “Visuals in Science”, I frequently returned to conversations I had with my friend Lina. Who is an incredibly skilled, and sensible woman, and by that time she was also exploring how to build bridges between art and other disciplines. When I told her, Lina got fascinated about the idea of “Visuals in Science”. At this point “Visuals in Science LAB” was born.

Basically, I (Lina) have been interested in visuals since I can remember. I did not study Arts for different reasons, but Architecture gave me a balance between artistic and technical approaches. A couple of years ago, I started illustrating plants and through the drawing and illustration practices, it became easier to understand and remembered characteristics about the plants I was drawing and the environment in which they grew. And although I am not a scientist, I have been very attracted to visual communication related to science since I was in school. Maybe because of that or because I was already in the journey of using drawing as a tool to understand plants, when I met Beatriz, we connected instantly. We shared many drawing afternoons at the botanical garden, full of tee, observation, drawings and discussions of diverse topics, such as the importance of using images to learn, understand and communicate.

Later on, when Beatriz told me about the project of “Visual in Science” with Alejandra, I did not hesitate to join in. “Visual in Science” is important for me for several reasons. First, it is an opportunity to learn about science through a visual approach. Second, it gives my creative part an opportunity to express and develop, thus complementing my work as an architect. And last but not least, it gives me the opportunity to grow professionally and learn new skills alongside Alejandra and Beatriz, both women that I admire and respect very deeply.

Thus, coming from different backgrounds and disciplines, Visuals in Science LAB, is the opportunity to bring together our complementary talents and interests.